10 Biggest Feuds In Star Trek History

8. Maurice Hurley And Gates McFadden

Star Trek
CBS

Maurice Hurley was the executive producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation for its first two years. He was both a tough character, but he also brought several fantastic additions to the franchise - with The Borg being one of them. To say that he has had a lasting impact on Star Trek is an understatement and so it is a bit of a shame for him to be included on this list.

The issue between Hurley and Gates McFadden stemmed, from her point of view, from the way that her relationship with Wesley was being written. In the first season, Dr. Crusher was written as a strong, proud, capable and sexual woman. However, whenever Wesley needed any sort of advice or guidance, he was usually to be found speaking to one of the male characters.

McFadden and Hurley began to argue about this quite a bit, but this led to McFadden being fired at the end of the first season. That was a shock to the rest of the cast, as they were also coming to terms with the departure of Denise Crosby.

McFadden reflected in later years that despite some strong character traits that were on show with some of the female cast, there was little actual display of strong, feminine roles until much later in the show. Hurley departed at the end of the second season, leading to McFadden's immediate return and a general upswing in quality of writing.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick